


A Hundred Little Adventures

by e_frye



Series: Landlubber's Guide to Sailing [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fluff, Happy Ending, Multi, family life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 20:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3583242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_frye/pseuds/e_frye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CS Cannon Divergence after 4x12</p>
<p>Now that the world of Storybrooke is saved for the time being Emma and Killian have to face a brand new adventure. Navigating life with their growing family.</p>
<p>A collection of happy little one shot moments from the extended Swan Family after the events of The Long Haul, (which  probably ins't required reading but it will help).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sill Adventures To Be Had

"Ma…. Ma.... Mom I can't." Emma stammered her mouth hanging agape as she looked at the condescending expression on her mother's face before her.

"Yes you can Emma" Her mother repeated with a stubborn smile on her face, she was enjoying this after all.

Emma could feel her throat tightening as a strange taste filled the back of her throat as if she was going to be physically sick at the very idea. "But I can't leave her alone." She balked.

Mary Margaret raised an eyebrow, "She is six months old Emma and she won't be alone." She said gesturing to the sleeping infant in the crib, "And I do think your father and I have the faculties to take care of her."

"But what if we miss something... what if she sits up on her own or rolls over..." She trailed of, the expression on her mother's face telling her that she was being somewhat paranoid but she didn't want to miss a single milestone. Surely her mother had to have some sympathies for those concerns, but she just smiled as she placed the overnight back in her daughter’s hands.

"Just go."

"One of us could stay behind?" Emma whined.

Mary Margaret stifled a laugh. "It's not a honeymoon if only one person goes."

Emma felt the need to argue with her some more but she also knew that there was no point. She looked down at the little girl asleep in the crib, these little moments when Caroline was quite seemed all too seldom in her own life. She was fond of babbling and gurgling thorough all these little instants in life. Her hand reached down and brushed gently across the silky brown hair which covered her head in wispy strands. It had been six months of great joys and small panics. No two days had ever been the same and she assumed that they never would be. In time she had gone back to work, she had let other people watch her daughter, she had given up small amounts of control, but the idea of being more than five miles away from her seemed to be too much.

But she had to, at some point and time she would have to be away from her daughter. She felt guilty to about being away from Henry, but that was a different kind of guilt. He understood why they were going away for five days, he was able to speak to them on the phone. And at the root of it all, she had already missed Henry’s first full night of sleep and gurgles. But with Caroline, she was determined not to miss a single thing.

"Emma, it's okay." She felt the hand on her shoulder as the stinging tears began to fill her eyes. "It doesn't make you any worse of a parent to be away for a few days." She knew that, she knew that in fact a few days of decent sleep would do her good, but it still twisted at her insides.

She knew that if she didn't go now, she wasn't going to go at all. With a deep breath she left the nursery and climbed what seemed like the longest flight of stairs in her entire life. Henry gave her a strong hug as he stood by the door with a smile on his face. She assumed part of him was possibly happy to be rid of them for a while, not that she doubted he wouldn’t be helping out with his little sister while they were gone.

Outside the late summer breeze was warm against her skin as she walked away from her own house in the early morning light. Killian was leaning up against the hood of the yellow Volkswagen bug, two travel mugs of coffee in her hands as she approached. He looked just as apprehensive as she did as he kissed her gently on the lips as he handed her one of the coffee mugs. He took her bag from her hands and placed it in the back of the car. They both got in and stood looking silently at the back wall of the carport with the engine off.

Emma realized that he was heading off to her honeymoon in the car which she had stolen all those years ago with Neal. She had dissociated the car from him a very long time ago. "We should go Killian." She sighed as she looked straight ahead at the barren wall rather than back to the house.

He nodded slightly, and put the keys in the ignition but did little else. He turned and looked at her, half a smile on his face. "When is the last time that we were actually alone, just the two of us?" She honestly had no clue. It could have been weeks, it could have been days, that hadn't mattered for a very long time. She shrugged wordlessly in reply. "I trust your parents it's just...."

"I feel as if I am having a limb torn away from me." Emma replied in a whisper.

He laughed, the feeling was mutual. "We have to leave her to be at some point." He began "When she's thirty." He joked with a cock of his head.

"Yeah I mean, parents who cling to their children mess them us too... This is slippery slope." she said with a shake of her head.

He smiled. "Five days, four nights... we can do this." He said looking at her as he tried to mentally prep himself for this. "What if Henry gets into trouble?" He blurted out.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Oh my god we have to start the car." She said loudly as she threw her hands up in the air. They were both acting so pathetically cowardly, and yet they had such a good reason to do so.

Finally after another fit of exhaustive laughter, he turned the car keys ignition and they pulled out of their driveway and off to begin their Honeymoon.

**

She had fallen asleep as they passed the city limits, when she awoke the world around her was a filled with dappled sunlight coming in through the canopy of the tall moss covered pine trees. The winding highway felt lost within the greater context of the world beyond, seldom cars passed by in the other direction as they ventured deeper into the forest. The occasional deciduous tree being to turn colorful as the weather grew colder.

They were heading deep into the forest of Vermont, crossing the northern most parts of the country until they came to upstate New York. It was a long and winding scenic route to their destination but it seemed to fit them. Their lives had been long and winding, never fully going in the right direction but always ending up where they meant to be in the end. The past six months had been filled with happy little moments. With tears and frustrations, sleepless nights and unspoken conversations. It hadn't been easy, it was never going to be. The way Emma saw it the moment life got easy was the moment when she wanted to find a new challenge.

Raising two children had proven to be a task. Henry was easy most of the time, but then there would still be days when he got wordlessly upset, when the lack of attention got to him, or when he got that look in his eyes which told her that he as longing for the way it had been in the old days. Of course that wasn't going to happen; Henry had suddenly become the oldest child in both the homes he had with Regina and Emma. So someone would take him out alone, he would drive into Boston with Emma and she would show him this or that place, or Killian would take him out for the day out into the bay patiently teaching him how to sail.  

On most days Henry was a help, he would hold his sister, calm her down and entertain her, but then there were he days which he spent away from the newlywed couple. They wordlessly learned how to communicate in glances, a certain nod meant that Caroline was sleeping, a head tilt meant to pass her between them, a scrunched of the nose meant that a diaper needed to be changed. Together they worked side by side, in an unspoken partnership which both participants found comforting. And yet it left them little time for themselves, let alone them as a couple.

Suddenly the car felt strange and silent, as if they would have little to talk about over the next five days, but Emma shook her head. That was the panic of the person she used to be talking. The woman who anyway ago would have laughed at the very life she as currently living. Sometimes that darkness of who she had once been still fluttered across her mind. She looked at the words they were spending through, similar and yet different in small subtle ways to the ones she had called her home.

"Why don't you let me drive for a bit?" She said her voice deep from disuse.

He pulled over on the shoulder and they changed places silently, continuing on to their destination.

**

"Killian wake up, were nearly at the border." She whispered tapping him gently as she slowed down the car. The long line of car stretched before them as they came to a halt. After how many unknown hours they had nearly arrived at their destination. He was running his hands across his face, trying to stay awake as she was reaching across grabbing things out of her purse. "You alright?" she muttered as she held the passports in her hands.

Killian gave her a small nod. "Yeah you?"

Emma's head bobbed up and down. "Yeah I'm alright." She pulled out her phone, which she had heard give off the occasional chime while she was driving. She looked at the series of texts which her mother's had sent her. All very reassuring and yet somewhat lofty updates about what was going on at home. She felt less guilty now that she was farther away. The knowledge that her children were an eight hour drive away was somewhat paralyzing, but also freeing as they inched forward in the border crossing line.

"Did she send any photos?" Killian asked as he learned over her shoulder and looked the screen of the phone with her.

"No." Emma replied, somewhat disappointed that her mother had not sent any photos, and yet she realized it wasn't as if her daughter was going to grow a foot in the hours which they had been gone. Aside from her creation and birth, Caroline had developed normally. She had magic, there was clearly no doubt about that. Lights seemed to flicker when she cried and favorite toys always made their way into her crib, but Caroline was normal and Emma was incredibly grateful for that.

The line at the border crossing moved slowly, untill finally it was there turn. Emma rolled down the window of the car with a hard cranking of the handle, and handed the older gentlemen their passports.

"Good afternoon, what is your purpose for entering Canada?"

Emma gave him a smile. "We're visiting for our Honeymoon." She replied in a much higher voice than normal. She felt awkward as she sat in the car, aware of all the cameras pointed at it, at the man in the booth looking over their passports, giving them small and narrowed glances. He was only doing his job and yet it all seemed a bit much.

"When we're you married." He said looking at the passports which both had the same last name on them.

"March 12th."

He looked at them with a raised brow. "It's a bit late to be having the honeymoon now?"

Emma gave him a playful laugh. "We've been a little busy." she replied, not wanting to have to mention the real reason why they had waited six months to have a honeymoon. She honestly didn't mind the order in which her life with Killian had worked out. Her family life was never going to be the perfect model of expected values, she had accepted at a very long time ago. She was just glad that she did now have a family that loved and supported her.

"And how long will you be staying?"

"Five days."

"And what are you bringing with you?"

"Just clothing, personal items."

"Anything to declare."

She shook her head. "No."

"And where are you both from?"

"Storybrooke, Maine."

He was typing on his computer as he talked to them. "And what do you do in Storybrooke, Maine."

"I'm the sheriff." Emma said blushing slightly as she said it.

He looked over and looked at Kilian who had been silently starting ahead the entire time. "And you sir."

He cleared his throat, "Um, I'm the harbor master." He replied in a strangely high voice.

He was sliding their passports through something which looked like a credit card scanner watching the screen ahead of him, a blank look on his face. Then he folded both of the passports up and handed them to Emma as the gate ahead began to rise. “Welcome to Canada, enjoy your stay."

Emma pulled forward as they looked at the bridge which spanned out across the long raging river below. She was trying her best to focus on the road ahead and the fact that they were so terrifying high above the water below. But she couldn’t help and turn her head to the left to look at the cascading water over the Horseshoe Falls. Niagara Falls, it seemed like such a strangely antiquated place of the past to have a honeymoon, and yet it seemed to fit them as a couple. The ever in flu mix of the past and the present, of the mixing of eras and cultures and times.

It was a waterfall, yet there was something breathtaking about the vastness of the nature which was before them. She had never been the type of person who had loved nature, never a person who enjoyed camping or willingly went for hikes. Yet seeing this before her now as they crossed the bridge, seeing the sheer size and scale of what nature could create if left to its own devices made her wonder what else there was in the world which she had not yet seen.

**

"So what do people do on these things?" Killian said as they both collapsed onto the hotel bed. The window was opened slightly the sounds of the pouring water from the falls ever constant.

"Sleep, eat, have rampant amounts of sex." Emma replied into the pillow.

"I'm good with the first two." He replied.

She laughed but she understood where he was coming from. She felt his body fall against hers and together they fell asleep for a short nap.

There was something gently pleasant about waking up to the sounds of silence rather than the cacophony she had become accustomed to. But while the feeling was pleasant there was also something which she missed, for years her life had been fast paced in a thousand different ways and now that it was just the two of them she felt the gaping hole where the call of adventure should be. She looked over at her sleeping husband, realizing how very long ago the last time they had ever had this sort of alone time had been.

“Emma.” She looked at his eyes fluttering open a smile forming across his face as he looked at her completely enamored. “What is it?”

There were still moments when it would all hit her, the sudden realization that this was the person who she had agreed to spend the rest of her life with. Sometimes it was accompanied with the thought that she was absolutely insane for doing such a task, but at least she never had the desire to bolt. “Don’t you ever just wonder what we are doing?”

His face tinged. “As in this very moment or in the general scheme of things?” He joked as he reached out and took her hand, squeezing it reassuring. “Emma I’ve lived long enough to know that the lack of bad guys trying to kill you is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean yes, this certainly is a little bit of a let down from evil witches trying to kill us all but, there are still adventures to be had.”

She looked at him with a bit of skepticism. Maybe it was time that they both came to the realization that they were addicted to the heroics which their lives had been for the past few years. But Emma couldn’t manage to see the opportunity for adventure which Killian could, all she could see was a life of being sheriff in a small town. “I don’t…” She trailed off not wanting to hurt his feelings

He rolled his eyes at her. “If it makes you feel any better we can just get the kids on a ship and begin sailing off to the next horizon.” He laughed. “Emma the best part of any voyage is the people who you are with. You, me, Henry, Caroline any other children we have in the distant future; there are still a hundred little adventures ahead of us. Henry going off to college, Caroline growing up, whenever the next group of witches comes into two, traveling this world and all the other realms, there is a whole lot of life ahead of us.”

She looked at his optimistic face, if he believed so ardently in a vivid future she knew that she could to. This was uncharted territory for both of them, and while she was crippled by the idea of making mistakes she also knew that follies were inevitable. “All right then.” She said as she leaned over and kissed him. “Let the next adventure begin.”


	2. I Promise

A year seemed respectful.

Waiting an entire year use until after Marian had died made Regina feel less bad about marrying the man who was supposed to be hers all along. Robin hadn't asked her to wait and Roland didn't seem to mind, but there had been a silent understanding that they would drag their feet on the official engagement. Robin proposed near Christmas and by the time everything was planned nearly a year and half had gone by since Marian had sacrificed herself for the sake of Storybrooke and her son.

Regina still wondered if it was too short of a time period. She had never been concerned with what other people thought of her life decisions before but somehow this mattered. The people who knew her, who knew the real circumstances; they understood that Regina and Robin had been meant to be together for a very long time. And they also knew that it was their own actions which had thrown them apart. Yet suddenly Regina was hyper aware of what everyone else in the town of Storybrooke saw in her. She had grown into a better person, a reformed villain, and she was determined to forever uphold that image in everyone's eyes. So Roland still referred to her as Regina, Henry still called Robin by his first name. She had done this as to the book as she possibly could for her circumstances. But she couldn't help but smile from ear to ear as she stood in her bedroom on her wedding day.

Her first wedding had been forced, disingenuous as she cried when no one could see her. It had all been done out of duty and fear and the knowledge that by marrying the king she would be able to get her revenge on Snow White for having killed who she had believed to have been the love of her life. There had been long winded ceremonies and various royal traditions, but throughout the entire day she had never felt a single moment of joy, not even when they placed a crown on her head and gave her the power of a Queen. Now she looked back at that day seeing only the youthful ignorance of a young woman who knew so very little about how the world really worked.

But today she was happy and that seemed to make all the difference as she looked at herself in the mirror. Today was the beginning of the new life that she had always wanted for herself. Her happiness had come at the price of the loss of the darkness within her, but that was something which she was now willing to give away. She didn't care if anything went wrong today, she had given up her control of the moment and she knew that from now on life would be a wholly different adventure from the one she had. She had taken a very long and winding path to get to this day and she finally saw a future before her which was one which she enjoyed to see.

There was a knock on the door and she saw the door open a fraction. "Hi." Came the deep voice of Henry as his head appeared in the door. He looked so much more grown up than he really was in his suit and bow tie with his dark hair all slicked back. He stepped into the room and looked at his mother in her wedding dress.

He had never minded growing up that he didn't have a father. Regina had certainly been enough of a parent for him in the first ten years in his life providing him with everything that he could possibly need. She may have been firm and strict most of the time but she had her tender moments as well. Now just a few short years later everything in Henry's life was different. Suddenly his immediate family was the entire size of a baseball team and his extended family was even larger and more convoluted. Today two more people would be officially added to his family, even though they had both been a part of it for over two years.

Henry could help but remember the woman who Regina had been when he learned the truth about Storybrooke as he looked at her now in her white satin wedding gown, her dark hair pulled back in a simple twist. Everything about her had been cold and confrontational, afraid of the world she had created which he would expose for what it really was. He knew that she had regrets from her actions back then, that she didn't want to ever be that person ever again. He was glad, both for his own sake and the sake of others that the woman who had raised him had grown into a better person and was finally being rewarded for the challenges she had overcome.

"You look beautiful." Her son whispered as he looked at her.

"Thank you." Regina could not help but agree with his statement. The simple sleeveless bateau mermaid wedding dress seemed to fit her, elegant and somewhat exposing in the difficult satin material and yet on her it was flawless. She looked in the mirror and saw the reflection of an honest woman before her. She turned back to her son looking at her proudly. "Did you ever think that you would see the day Henry, when your mother was getting married?"

He shook his head. "Not really, not until you met Robin. I'm glad he makes you happy." The teenager replied honestly.

"Yes but what about you?" Regina began as she looked at him. "He's part of your life too now. You never had a father growing up Henry and now-"

"Now I have plenty." Henry replied with a laugh.  Neal had only been a part of his life for a short time but Killian and Robin would hopefully be a part of it for a very long time to come each of them offering very different paternal advice for the young man. "I never used to think about what it would be like if I was part of a big family, part of a normal family with two parents and siblings. I was okay with just the two of us, I really was. I was curious about my real parents, but I found Emma more because I wanted her to help with the whole story book character thing. I didn't daydream about her whisking me away from you, not really."

Regina looked at him wistfully. "But then she stayed, and that was exactly what I was afraid of. Her taking you away from me." She knew now it was a stupid and silly thing to worry about. But she wondered if that was always some deep down fear adoptive parents always held, the fear of losing the child they had chosen to call their own.

"You really shouldn't have." Henry replied shaking his head. "I like having two moms, who let me get away with different things." He joked. "And I know that I'll like having two dad's as well. Both of you have made some pretty unusual choices about the men in your lives but I am glad you picked the right ones to marry in the end."

She could feel herself beginning to tear up as she looked at him talking proudly about the strange family that had become their own over the past few years, she too was glad about the choices she had made to end up here. The door opened again and she saw Emma, her eighteen month old daughter trailing behind her as they came into the room.

 

"They want you in the other room Henry." She said with a proud smile as she looked at her son. She waited until he had left, sitting down on the bed and picking up Caroline who was too cute for words in the tulle dress and flower head band. She looked at Regina chuckling.

"What now Swan?" Regina said trying her very best to be imposing, but she too couldn't help but laugh.

"I just never though this day would ever happen, especially since I remember so vividly the woman I first met all those years ago."

Regina could only imagine what it must have been like to meet her. She had come face to face with evil in her own lifetime but being that evil had been something altogether different. But Emma had looked at her, so un-phased when many others would have stood terrified. "Thank you, for all that you have done to help make this day happen."

Emma grinned, distracted by her daughter who was trying to pull off an earring. "It's more than mutual Regina. We've helped one another countless times by now and I can only assume that it will continue on in the future. After all we are family."

**

Henry pushed open the door to the study all eyes turning on him as he entered. Killian and Fergus were both there, drinks in hand laugher on their faces as they stood around Robin who seemed nervous.  Neither men were officially part of the wedding, Robin had chosen both Henry and Roland to serve as best men, but the two friends were there in the capacity of moral support which they teenager and young boy could not afford. They looked at Robin who gave a small silent nod of understanding and they both smiled at Henry as they brushed past him, leaving him alone with Robin and Roland in the room. Robin looked at him with a smile and indicated that he should sit down in one of the leather chairs which stood in the study.

"Henry....I...Uh... how is your mother." He stumbled as he looked at Henry almost as if he was afraid of the boy.

Henry smiled reassuringly they had known each other for far too long and been through too much for there to be anything for Robin to be concerned about. "She's fine. What about you?"

"Good." He replied quickly. "I'm nervous." He confessed, "I don't know why."

Henry wanted to make some joke about how he could possibly be worried of the chance of some witch or wizard crashing the wedding and placing a dark curse on them, but he had enough sense to see that it was not the right time and place for such a joke. "I think you’re supposed to be a little nervous on your wedding day." Henry replied tactfully.

"Second wedding day." Robin corrected him a whisper. "This is both of our second wedding, second marriage actually."

"But that doesn't matter, does it?" Henry replied.

Robin looked at him, slowly shaking his head. There were many days in the past few years in which he wished he could go back in time and make Regina go into that pub and meet him when the fairy had showed her. He wished that they had meet in the forest, that he had never met Marian or go through the pain of losing her and finding her all over again. There was so much unnecessary drama in both their pasts, he wished that he could just manage to make them avoid it all, he wasn't often a cowardly man but it was something he often felt strongly. But he also knew that if they had meet then, neither of them would have the sons they currently had, there would be no Roland and there would be no Henry either. He loved his son and he knew that Regina loved her son as well. He looked at the boy knowing that in a few hours he would be able to call him his own son as well.

"Good, 'cause you’re joining part of a very peculiar family and the last thing I want you to be hung up on is the fact that this is your second marriage." Henry replied with a laugh. He looked at Roland who was giggling too, he was glad that they both seemed to find something interesting in this. "Ready?" He said as he looked at them with a smile.

"Yes." Robin replied as he looked at the two boys and left the room to head down stairs to his own wedding.

**

Henry was getting a lot of practice at walking people down the aisle. He had walked both his mother's down the aisle now he realized as Regina pulled away from him and head towards the archway of flowers which had been constructed in the woods. He watched with a smile on her face as she handed him the bouquet of red wildflowers and ferns, never in a million years would he have ever imagined that Regina would get married out in the woods, but when you loved someone you made compromises, his parents had all taught him that.

A gathering of around sixty people looked on as they stood beneath the canopy of pine trees on the warm mid-day afternoon. Magic seemed to crackle in the very air around them as the officiant began to speak but Henry paid little attention to the words he was saying, he was looking instead at all the smiling faces looking up at the happy couple. It was amazing what time and forgiveness could do. He remembered a time in which Regina had been so afraid to let him know about her past, when she had wanted to hide the woman she had once been from him. There was no doubt secrets she kept deep within her heart about the actions she made at a weaker moment in her life, but how she had made up for some of those vengeful actions.

The people who looked up at her now with smiles and support had once been her subjects at her mercy, thrown into this strange world which none of them had asked for because of her hatred. But Regina had changed, she had fought to keep them alive and save them and the place they had all come to know as their home. Henry knew he was part of that change in character within her, he also knew that Robin was as well. But it was still remarkable to look upon all these people who had once hated her and to now see them genuinely happy for her.

Suddenly they were already on the vows, and Henry watched as Robin cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Regina I... I wish we had met sooner. I wish that our lives had taken different paths, but I also know that if they had we would be here like we are today. We make each other better people, and part of that is because of what we have been through. We've waited for this day, maybe for longer than we should have; but all that matters now is that we have from now on to spend the rest of our lives together. I promise to love you, even when you are difficult. To help you, even when you don't ask for it. To care and do everything in my power to make sure that our lives are... not perfect, because we both know that perfect doesn't exist in real life, but the very best that they can be together."

Robin stood smiling at Regina but he looked at both the boys lingering for a moment, wanting to say something more. This day was between them, but Henry and Roland were intertwined in it as well. "Henry." He said somewhat firmly, causing the teenager to snap his head around and look at him confused. "I know I'm not your real father, and I know that you have Killian in your life now, but I want you to know that I will always be here for you. That I promise to help guide you in any way I can, to give you advice even when you don't ask for it and to be as much of a father to you as I can be." He added, half blushing in embarrassment but the swell of pride on Regina's face told him that he had done the right thing.

Regina looked at him, clearing the throat as she readies to speak. "My first marriage was arranged. Not that there weren't good things about it, but in the grand scheme of things it was arranged and it was to a man who I didn't exactly love. I thought for a very long time I had given up on every loving anyone, of ever even being loved by anyone until I got a second, and then a third chance with you. I am not going to let you slip though my hands again. I promise that I will love you until the end of our days and that I will continue to be the better woman who you help me be. I promise to never betray you or hurt you. I promise to never be the evil queen I once was. I promise to take care of you, no matter what. And I promise to love and raise Roland as if he was my own son." She smiled at him.

Soon it was over, they were kissing finally married after waiting what seemed like the longest amount of time ever imaginable. And Regina looked at her family which had suddenly grown once more, incredibly happy that it had done so.

**

There was a pleasant contentment which washed over her as she moved around on the dance floor as Regina felt Robin's arms wrap around her as they danced. She had never been the type of person who relied on anyone but herself unless pushed up against a wall, but the knowledge that she now had an equal partner in this thing called life was something which she was incredibly grateful for. He didn't care about the person she had been, that simple fact was a miracle. All he cared about was the good person she was slowly becoming and his faith in her seemed to make the transition possible.

The song was coming to an end as he spun her around, the flared bottom of her dress moving as she looked around the smiling faces around the light filled hall. They were looking at her with pride, glad to spend this happy occasion with her. She felt a hand on her shoulder as the music began to change into something faster than the sappy song which they had chosen to have their first dance. Regina looked up into the eyes of Henry as he outstretched a hand. She took it wordlessly beginning to dance with her son as she saw Robin looking around the room and doing the same with Roland.

"Are you happy Mom?" He said with a smile as the dance floor slowly began filled with more and more couples.

"Yes." She said not holding back a smile. She had frowned and grimaced for so much of her life that it felt good to smile with unabashed happiness, she felt as if she was a child all over again. "Are you happy Henry?"

He nodded. "As happy as a clam." He laughed, and suddenly without warning the boys had switched spots on them. She looked down at Roland, who was nearly bent over with laughter as he took Regina's hands. "Sorry Mom." He called out as he shuffled away from her with Robin.

Regina looked at the little boy who was giggling uncontrollably as he stumbled over her toes. Roland looked up at her, his face bright and shinning with the hope and joy that she clearly felt.

"You find this funny don't you?" She said with a grain as she looked down at him nodding at her. Henry had been a calm child, patient and well behaved, no doubt a reflection on her likely strict parenting techniques. But Roland was a bouncing ball of energy who had already spent the first four years of his life living as wildly as possible.

"I find it funny too." She said as she bent down their faces so close their noses were almost touching as she ran a hand through his hair. He tucked his chin into his shoulder as he saw the adults around them turn and look at the pair with a funny smile. She had been the wicked sort of a step-mother before, but she would not be repeating those choices this time. "What do you think, should we dance the night away Roland?"

He leaned into her, his arms wrapping around her shoulders as he called out into her ear. "All right Mamma." Regina pulled him in tight, not wanting him to see the tears which were falling uncontrollably from her eyes as she ran a hand through his dark curls. She held her son tight, this was the ending she had wanted and all around her was the proof that she had been victorious.


	3. The Things We Do

If Emma was here she just would have used her magic. That was the thought that was running through Killian's mind as his hand stretched away from his body as he tried to reach just one more inch further.

"Daddy." Her tone was bored and dull as if the world was not moving fast enough.

"Addison, daddy needs you to be quiet right now." He said stressed as he looked down at his feet on the roof of the car and seeing his daughters standing beside it looking up with interest.

It had been Addison who had thrown Lucy's stuffed lion, Stan up in the air. She had not intended for it to land on the roof of the car port but it had. So he had done the only thing that seemed imaginable in his own mind. He had back up the car, got on top of the roof and was now trying not to fall down as his hand grasped for the animal. All he need to be able to do was grasp the thing and yet that seemed nearly impossible as he stood on the tip of his toes leaning so hard into the metal roof that he could barely breathe. He didn't trust the integrity of the roof enough to climb up onto it, he was barely managing on the roof of the car to begin with.

His life had never been short of adventures before, but this was something which was beyond the realm of what he had ever expected. Seeing no other option which would not result in his daughters both beginning to cry shortly he took a deep breath jumped up and stretched. The extra burst gave him just enough leverage to slip his fingers around the leg of the animal. His feet hit the car abruptly, the hard impact sending a shock through his body but the creature was safely in his hands. He jumped down to the ground bellow and handed Stan to Lucy.

Her face glowed as if she had just won the lottery. "Thank you Daddy." She cried out as she hugged Stan and then him in that order.

He turned and looked at Addison whose head was hanging down in shame. "Don't ever do that again." He said ruffling a hand through her dark hair.

"Yes Dad." she replied twisting back and forth meeting him with a shy eye.

He sighed as he watched them both run back into the house. "What's next?" He muttered to himself as he followed after them, knowing he could take whatever came his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everybody for reading.  
> I would love to hear any suggestions or ideas for future stories if anybody has them :)  
> -Elizabeth


	4. Birthday Presents

His desire for a paintball party had long since dissipated as he stood in the backyard of Regina's house watching the girls standing by the drinks table in their summer dresses. Part of Henry had always hated having a birthday in late August.  In the last few days before school started it always seemed no one wanted have a large party where they would see the people who they would soon be spending hours on end with for the next nine months. The fact that they would all be starting high school at the brand new school which Regina happened to be principal of didn't help as well. Still he and his friends had gathered and put aside the temporary awkwardness for the sake of the fact that he was turning fourteen.

 

He was glad that his parents had all somehow disappeared into the depths of the house along with his younger siblings. It wasn't as if Henry didn't like his family, he loved every single one of them, but there was no denying that they would have killed the very skillfully crafted vibe of the party which was just right for keeping young teenagers entertained.

 

Most of his friends were sitting at the tables, the remnants of quickly devoured pizza in front of them as they bent over their smartphones, and posed for ridiculous pictures. One of the girls moved away from her group approaching him with a large toothy grin as she sat down next to him. Tiger Lily still wore her hair in two low pigtails, giving her a false look of immaturity as her dark hair swayed with every step she took. She sat down next to him at one of the many tables which had been set up, she too was his age, or at least she considered herself to be. Life was confusing and strange, Henry and many of the other young people in the garden had accepted that fact.

 

"Nice party." She said with a higher voice than normal as she looked at the group of girls whom she had just left. They were all giggling as they turned their backs to her, there expression conveying the strong exclusivity between this clique of girls and the others.

 

"Yeah." Henry said nervously. He didn't know exactly what to say to her, which was silly because they had quite a lot in common. He had known her for nearly two years, he considered her to be a friend, she at least was one of the few people his age who knew the truth about Storybrooke. Yet he sat next to her very aware of her presence, able to hear every single breath she took her hand almost beckoning to him as they sat inches apart. "Did you get me a present?" He asked with a small chuckle in an attempt to break the tension.

 

She nodded sharply. "Yeah but I didn't know how to wrap it." She replied coolly, she turned her head looking at him with a sparkle in her eye. She inhaled through her nose her shoulders rising up to her elbows as she made up her mind. Then Lily leaned in, her nose bumping into his as her lips brushed up against his. They were soft as they twisted briefly against his, her breath warmly blooming against his face as she pulled back embarrassed.

 

He liked the sensation. He had been taken by surprise as she kissed him suddenly but he hadn't been scared by the moment. He saw her turn her head away from him out of the corner of his eye, and look straight ahead biting her lip out of embarrassment.

 

Henry was tempted to kiss her again, but he was also aware that there were twenty other teenagers in the backyard some of whom had no doubt already seen her kiss him. And he knew that rumors spread like wildfire. "Thank you." He managed to say as he sat shoulder to shoulder to her both of them looking straight ahead at the birthday cake ahead of them on a distant table.

 

He could see her lips curve upwards in a smile. "Wanna to go to the movies with me this weekend?" she asked briskly as if she was asking the time.

 

He felt hope rise up within him. "Like a date?" 

 

"Yes." She replied still not making eye contact with him.

 

"Okay." He said reaching out and gabbing a hold of her hand. Her head turned, her hair trailing a second behind it as she looked at him and giggled happily.

 

He wondered what he was supposed to do next. Nobody had ever told him what he was supposed to do next. Could he even date? He was fourteen and all he could imagine was this parents being mad at him. That was what happened wasn't it, at least it always did in the movies. Parents would get upset when their daughters began to date, but he was a boy and she had no parents anymore.

 

He was staring into her deep brown eyes, aware of how her pupils were flicking around rapidly. People were watching him, it's was his party after all, and such a good show which he was putting on for them all. He looked at her breathing in deep and throwing all caution to the wind.

 

He leaned in, still holding her hand. He didn't close his eyes until his face brushed up against hers. They kissed for a moment longer this time, still just lips brushing against one another innocently.  Bit when they pulled apart they each looked at one another with large toothy grins.

 

"I should get back." she said gesturing to the group of girls from which she came.

 

"Okay." He replied a silly grin on this face.  "See you around Lily." He added as she stood up, still holding onto his hand.

 

She stepped back, their fingers finally parting. "Bye Henry." She whispered with a smile.


	5. I Saw One Ship

The snow was falling slowly as she looked outside at the ocean beyond. The sky was growing darker as the days grew shorter and yet in the continual darkness everything seemed warmer. It was some strange side effect of the season, and she had to admit that she loved it as she could see the reflection of the room behind her as she looked out at the ocean.

It didn't seem real. The white lights on the Christmas tree refracted into pulsars on the window pane; the smells of cinnamon and pine pleasantly pushing on nauseating. The thick layer of snow weighing down the branches just like the picturesque images on Christmas card. When she was little the idea of that perfect white Christmas with presents under a tree and the warmth of family was something that she tried to avoid ever dreaming of. But that was an impossible expectation for a child. Even as she got older even as the day would come and pass with little meaning to her she still wished that maybe that perfect image of a day, overhyped by the media and the sentimentality of the season, would be a reality for her at least once in her lifetime. Now it was her reality, and it would likely be the only reality of the holiday which her children would ever know.

She saw his reflection approach her, Killian wrapped his arms around her kissing her gently on the neck. Breathing into her as he seemed to let go off all tension. She turned in his arms kissing him on the mouth, so used to the feel of the scuff against her face as she drank him all in.

"This is all new to you isn't it?" She muttered as they made their way to the couch both sitting down exhausted.

"What do you mean?"

"Christmas."

He laughed "I don't think Christmas is exactly new."

She tapped him lightly as she moved to learn across his chest. "No, I mean Christmas like this. With the tree, presents, all the traditions. Do pirates even have traditions or holidays?"

"They have traditions….superstitions really." He replied remembering the many tales of tempting sirens, cursed voyages which set off on Fridays, the reminder to never kill an Albatross, always have a black cat aboard a ship. "Haven't you had Christmases before?"

She nodded, her eyes falling upon the tree. He had laughed when both she and Henry explained the practice of placing and decorating a dead tree within ones home for a month. But he had agreed, he had even helped her lug the things into the living room and place it in a stand. They had then argued about how to light the thing. Was it better to start at the top or the bottom? Then there was the untangling and somehow re-tangling of the light strands. But in the end the tree had been decorated and even Killian had to manage a smile as he looked at the tree beginning to see the value in it.

"But not like this." She added. Even in the time since she had come to Storybrooke Christmas had just been her and her parents in the loft, sharing Henry between herself and Regina. This was different this was hers and hers alone and she could do whatever she pleased. "This is our first Christmas, Caroline's first Christmas..." She whispered as she wrapped her fingers in his. "We get to make it what we want. Choose our own traditions, make it unique to our family."

He was at her mercy as he looked into her shinning face. There were some things in this modern world which he didn't understand, often she was able to explain it to him, but this was something more. He could tell in her expression, to her the idea of Christmas was something more than just understanding traditions. The idea of having a family meant so much more to her. He had grown up with both his parents, with a brother; but she had none of that and there was nothing else she wanted to do than to forget that sometimes.

"Yes we will." He muttered

She turned and looked at him with a smile. "You haven't told me what you want?"

He pulled away rolling his eyes. There had been buy presents for Henry and Caroline, but he hadn't thought about himself. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes." She replied scorn. "You can't have nothing to open on Christmas morning. Think of something, it can be anything?"

He looked at her, she was giving him the eye as if it were some sort of challenge. "Anything?" He echoed. "The Jolly Roger."

He loved the expression on her face as she laughed. "Yeah ‘cause that's really going to fit under the tree so well" She replied as she closed her eyes and nestled further into him. As much as she enjoyed the warmth and magic of Christmas it was exhausting to put it all together. Between Caroline crawling all over the house, Henry's teenaged inclinations and trying to coordinate holiday activities between her parents and Regina it seemed there was hardly any time to manage to sit down.

"Mom." She heard the pounding as he ran up the stairs and she was tempted to scorn him for being so loud when she wished that Caroline was asleep in her crib, though she knew full well the infant was probably not taking a nap. "Mom." Henry repeated again as he came into the room.

"What?" She hissed at him. He was pointing out of the window and she turned to see what he was making such a big deal out of.

Through the snow and all the darkness there was a familiar and unmistakable outline on the horizon. The three of them rushed to the window faces pressed to the glass as they looked at the ship on the horizon. Henry looked at it in awe, but both Killian and Emma had knowing smiles on their face.

He looked at her, with a tear in his eye. That ship meaning as much to him as the idea of a family was to her.

"You did it?" He whispered just as surprised as she was.

"Yeah I did." She replied, in shock that she had done it at all. She must have through about it somewhat in order to just make it appear. She didn't think that her magic was that powerful but when she saw the expression on her husband's face it was all worth it "Merry Christmas." She replied as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Burgh.
> 
> Sorry about such the long wait on updating, writers block got me. Plus these next few months are definitely my busy time at work right now, and I came down with the flu for about a week straight.
> 
> I will try and update this about every week as long as the ideas keep coming to me. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading
> 
> Elizabeth


End file.
